Extend success of UK sugar tax to cakes, biscuits and chocolate, experts urge

The levy reduced total sugar sales from soft drinks by more than a third between 2015 and 2020, but the figure for chocolate over the same period was 0.9%. Photograph: Peter Jordan_F/Alamy

The sugar tax has been so successful in improving people’s diets that it should be extended to cakes, biscuits and chocolate, health experts say.

The World Health Organization wants the next UK government to expand coverage of the levy to help tackle tooth decay, obesity, diabetes and other illnesses.